Virginia Tech tree app identifies species across the country

Virginia Tech tree app identifies species across the country | WSLS 10

BLACKSBURG, VA —

The fall colors are breathtaking, but have you ever wondered just what you were looking at.

Well thanks to a new smart phone application, no matter where you are in the country, you’ll at least be able to narrow down your selection.

“You take the app, you type in Blacksburg Virginia. It searches for the species that are found in the mountains around here, and you now in your hand have a tree guide of Blacksburg Virginia,” said John Seiler.

Seiler, a professor at Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment, is one of the developers and talks about how the idea for the app with more than six thousand pictures of trees downloaded straight to your phone got started. It began as a website on virginia tech’s server…and then he got an email

The retired computer programmer emailed me because he uses our website. He is sort of an amateur naturalist.

“Never asked a dime for any of it. He just wants to get it in the hands of amateur naturalists. Which we want to get our information out there to the public”

It is also a program Seiler says helps him in his profession, teaching students about what we all cannot stop looking at this time of year.

Iphone users can stay tuned for about six months until the application is available on that platform.